On the prize shortlist is Violet by Tom Coult and Alice Birch, a co-production by Music Theatre Wales with Aldeburgh Festival and Theater Magdeburg, Germany. The production will tour in the UK in June and Autumn 2020 and play in Germany in Spring 2021. This bid is being led by Music Theatre Wales.

Also nominated is Denis and Katya by Phil Venables and Ted Huffman, a MTW coproduction with Opera Philadelphia and Operá Orchestre Montpellier. The production will open in Philadelphia in September 2019 and tour the UK in Spring 2020. This bid is being led by Opera Philadelphia.

Both productions will be performed in the UK with the London Sinfonietta, working in association with Music Theatre Wales.

Fedora is a major European prize, also open to partners in America who are working with European companies. Music Theatre Wales is the only UK producer leading a nominated bid and one of only two UK organisations nominated for the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera, the other being Aldeburgh Festival who are co-producing Violet with MTW and will host the world premiere at the Festival in 2020.

The prize is worth €150,000 for the commission and production of the nominated piece, with public support deciding who gets through to the next stage and with voting taking place through the Fedora Prize website.

The winner will be announced on June 28th at the Fedora Prizes Award Night at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Violet follows a story where time collapses with the sudden and unexpected loss of one hour on each consecutive day. As ordered society starts to violently fall apart, one woman sees an opportunity to break free and begin again. Alice Birch is well- known for her powerfully dramatic female roles and for writing which is intelligent, sensitive and sincere. This is opera for our time, but with a universal message.

Denis and Katya tells the true story of Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova, two fifteen-year-old lovers who died after a three-day stand-off with Russian Special Forces on November 14, 2016. Forbidden from seeing each other, they flee to a cabin in the woods but are discovered and refuse to surrender. They live-streamed their last hours on www.periscope.tv: drinking, smoking, cuddling, crying and preparing to die whilst messaging friends and posting farewell messages to the world. A documentary opera, Denis and Katya will bring the audience into the intense, devastating journey of these teen lovers, but also examines the vast public response to these events and what it reveals about our society.

Given their involvement in two competing nominations, Music Theatre Wales is asking people who are interested in supporting new opera and music theatre to log in and vote for either project.

Artistic Director Michael McCarthy says

“You have until 22 February to vote for whichever project appeals to you the most. MTW is deeply committed to both of these productions and proud to be involved in such exciting partnerships to help bring them to life and share with audiences far and wide. They are both outstanding projects and they are very different in content and style. Sadly you can’t vote twice, so it’s simply up to you to choose!”

The shortlist of operas nominated for the Fedora Prize can be found at: https://www.fedora-platform.com/competition/shortlist

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Based in Cardiff, Music Theatre Wales is the UK’s leading contemporary opera company. By commissioning outstanding composers and writers, developing the opera creators of the future and presenting works by the world’s most important contemporary composers – including Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Philip Glass, Michael Tippett, Peter Eötvös, Philippe Boesmans - the company brings vibrant new opera to audiences across Wales, the UK and internationally.